Combined railway sleeper and chair



(No Model.)

J. SMITH. COMBINED RAILWAY SLEEPER AND CHAIR.

Patented May 4 18 & n w

' aa- D t vfimaaoao I t I dc ammoth m I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES SMITH, OF FRUITLAND PARK, NEAR LEESBURG, FLORIDA.

COMBINED'RAILWAY SLEEPER AND CHAIR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 341,286, dated May 4, 1886.

Application filed January 18, 1886. Serial No. 198,981. (Nomodeh) To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, J AMES SMITH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Fruitland Park, (near Leesburg,) in the c-aanty of Sumter,

5 State of Florida, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Combined Railway Sleepers and Chairs, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to combined sleepers and chairs for railways, being an improvement on patent granted to me in England No. 7 89, April 6, 1854, and has for its object to provide a simple, durable, and efficient combination of I 5 chair and sleeper in one piece, in order to provide a firm bearing for the rail and bring the base of the sleeper quite near the surface of the ballast, thereby affording greater facility in laying the chairs and sleepers in constructingnew roads and repairing those already built, and requiring less ballasting material, and also in affording better drainage; and it consists in the parts and combination of parts, as hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a transverse seetional view of myimprovcment; Fig. 2, a longitudinal section on the line y y, Fig. 3, with the rail removed; and Fig. 3, a plan view.

Similarletters refer to similar parts throughout all the views.

B represents a wrought or cast iron sleeper, and O a chair of the same material. The

sleeper and chair are cast or welded together,

preferably cast, so that greater strength is obtaincd.

The sleeper B, as clearly shown in Fig. 1, is formed like an inverted saddle, or is V-shaped,

flaring outwardly and upwardly from its bottom, and has a solid bed or seat, I), for the chair at itscentcr,which extends from side to side, and is about the width of the bottom of the chair. From the seat I) the sleeper slopes or tapers gradually away to the ends, being about three inches in thickness at the seat and tapering to about one inch at its ends. This construction gives great strength to the sleeper, and where it is most needed, and a large bearing-surfaee for the chair. I

The chairpattern is first an, then pinned or screwed to the sleeper-pattern prior to the casting of the sleeper, so that, should it be desired, different forms of chairs may be used with this form of sleeper. A perforation, 0, is made through the chair 0, and an opening is left in the side of the sleeper corresponding to a recess, e, in the side of the chair, in which the end of a tie-rod, D, is inserted, and there secured by means of the bolt f and key g, passing through the opening or perforation c and through the end of the tierod D, which tic-bars, for facility of fixing, are jointed together in the middle by bolts and keys. This tie-rod D connects the sleepers so as to prevent lateral displacement.

The bottom of the sleeper is keel-shaped, as shown in Fig. 1 at h. This construction prevents the canting over of the sleeper, as it is firmly embedded in the ballast. The chair 0 tapers upwardly on each side, so as to leave a broad base, and its upper surface spreading from the rail downwardly presents a line of resistance in both directions that .is, as the force exerted by the train in passing over the rails is in a slightly diagonal and downward direction this construction presents a resistance thereto in a direct line with the line of the force.

The chair 0 may be hollowed out to receive any kind of a rail, the form shown being adapted to a doubleheaded or T rail, and has lips d, one of which bears directly against the web of the rail on one side, a check or key, E, of wood or other suitable material being driven in between the web of the rail and the body of the chair on the opposite side, so as to hold the rail securely in position in the slot of the chair.

As will be noticed, the sleeper B spreads upwardly and outwardly from its center, its broad outer or bottom surface resting on and its upper surface being covered by the ballast, thus securing a very firm foundation of the rail.

I have found that when the corners m of the sleeper are square they are liable to be easily broken. To remedy this, I make them round, and also slightly thicker than the adjacent part. I also round the edge of the sleeper, making it slightly thicker as shown at n, for the same reason.

I do not desire to be limited in the use of my sleeper to a chair expressly formed for the reception of a double-headed or T rail, as my invention is capable of being applied to any form of rail by simply altering the bottom surface of any chair, so as to cause it to fit the upper and inner surface of my sleeper.

When it is desired to adapt chairs already in use to my form of sleeper, the sleeper of course must be cast separately from the chair and the chair secured to the sleeper by nuts and bolts or riveting.

Having thus describedmy invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A saddle-shaped cast or wrought iron sleeper for railways, having its corners rounded and heavier than its adjacent surface, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. A saddle-shaped cast-iron sleeper for railways, having its corners and edge rounded, whereby greater thickness of material is secured at those points, substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. A saddle-shaped cast or wrought iron JAMES SMITH.

Witnesses:

J. VICKERS SMITH, W. G. ENGLEMAN. 

